Wounded
by Supervillainy
Summary: Never pick up injured super-villains off the street and take them home. Casper Jones learned that the hard way. Dent/OC.


"Are you sure you don't want a ride home?"

Casper Jones snapped out of the daze he had slipped into to the sound of his boss's voice. His green eyes locked onto Leslie's aged face, creased in concern. "It's not safe to be out alone at night in this city."

"I can take care of myself." Casper snapped. It hadn't meant to come out so argumentative but right now he was willing to risk a mugger's knife just to have some time alone. Hell, he'd throw himself into a black hole just for the silence of it.

"If you insist on being so stubborn," Leslie said, grabbing her handbag off the desk. She opened it, searched for a moment before pulling out two items and handing them to Casper. "At least take something to protect yourself."

Casper fingered the two objects, a can of pepper spray and, "A rape alarm?"

"Men can be victims, too," Leslie said. "It can also be used during any kind of attack. Be careful it doesn't go off in your pocket and...be careful, Casper."

Casper only nodded and said with a small smile, "Thank you. Goodnight, Leslie."

"Goodnight, Casper. And I am terribly sorry about your sister."

The night air was cold and harsh against his face. Casper was struggling to keep tears in from a mix of the wind and the grief he now felt. Leslie had meant well but his sister was a sensitive topic at the moment.

Pulling his hood up to hide his face, Casper walked fast with his eyes fixed on his sneakers. It was a relatively quiet night and Casper was average sized but it still wasn't wise to linger on the streets of Park Row at night or any other time of day, really.

He passed a few people: a homeless man staggering around and muttering to himself, a couple of teenagers who mock charged him and ran off snickering, a group of ladies in skimpy outfits who asked if he was "looking for a good time." Even if he wasn't gay, he didn't agree with using women, so he mustered a smile and politely declined.

For Gotham and the Narrows, the walk home had been practically relaxing. No one had tried to rob him or shoot at him, he hadn't been jumped and had miraculously not run into any super-villains.

How did that old saying go? About speaking too soon?

He should have just kept walking. The Narrows was no place for heroes, even Batman actively avoided the area on its busiest nights. But when Casper heard the moaning - an agonised, pitiful sound - the nurse in him caused him to pause beside an alley the noise was coming from.

Pushing himself against the stones of the alley, he tried to listen for it again and any other signs of movement. Gotham had made him generally suspicious of everything and thoughts of traps started spinning into his mind, like that serial killer years ago who had left recordings of babies crying on people's doorsteps to lure them out of their homes.

It came again, weaker than the last time. No other sound followed. Casper stood there for a moment, conflicted. Then he cleared his mind of whatever possible grisly surprise awaited for him and tried to focus on helping a victim. With that in mind, he jogged into the alley and followed the noise to a crumpled figure leaning against a dumpster. He paused in shock as he realised who it was. There was no mistake.

Two-Face.

The marred side face seemed more scarred than usual whereas the clean side was sprinkled with bruising. Torn pieces of his split suit littered the alley, probably from a knife or knives. His right hand rested limply against a large wound on his abdomen and his left hand held the infamous double headed coin. Casper just stared at him for a long moment, completely dumbfounded.

He decided it was probably a good idea to check his pulse. No point in trying to save a dead guy. As Casper reached out to touch the man's neck, Two-Face's hand shot up and wrapped around Casper's wrist painfully tight. Casper attempted to pull away but the villain's grip only got tighter. "Hey, hey! It's okay! I'm a nurse!" Casper tried to reassure him but the pressure around his wrist was unwavering. "Listen to me. You've lost a lot of blood. I need to get you to a hospital."

Two-Face finally released him and Casper started rubbing the pain from his wrist. "No...hospital..." He sighed, the words coming out roughly through the that torn mouth of his. His breathing was shallow and every breathe seemed to take more effort than the last. "Wouldn't...help me...anyway..." Casper doubted that. Despite Two-Face's lack of faith, Casper had seen his fair share of medical individuals willing to help even Gotham's most despicable criminals. Leslie Thompkins was probably the most dedicated. Doctors and nurses like himself must have either been saints or crazy and that wasn't even a joke.

"Fine," Casper gritted out, a little annoyed. Why did Two-Face have to be his problem? He thought about all the things the man had done, all the people the news reported he had killed and was extremely tempted to leave him there for Batman to find. "There's a free clinic a couple of blocks from here that I work at. They'll be able to patch you up but-"

"No." Two-Face said firmly, shaking his head. "No...clinics and no...hospitals."

Casper threw up his hands in exasperation. "Then how am I supposed to help you!"

"Just...do your best."

Casper rolled his eyes but nodded. "I'm going to examine your wounds now, okay? So don't go super-villain on me."

Casper undid the buttons of his blazer, pulling it open and the lifting up his shirt. Curses flew from the man's mouth as the fabric peeled away the wound. "Sorry, sorry, sorry." Casper kept saying as Two-Face writhed in pain.

The cut looked worse than it actually was but he would still need to stop the bleeding before it became seriously dangerous. Casper took off his coat, balled it up and pressed it against the sight of the injury. " _Fuck!_ " Two-Face screamed.

"Alright, alright," Casper said, trying to reassure himself as much as his patient. "Keep the pressure on that and the bleeding should stop but you still need stitching and without an X-Ray I have no idea if you have any broken bones or internal injuries or how bad they are and even then I'm just a nurse not a doct-"

"You going to...sit there...and...bitch all night," Two-Face wheezed like a chain smoking Clint Eastwood. His breathing was shallow and his head was starting to loll but the good side of his mouth was pulled up into a smirk. "Or...are you gunna...get me...out of here?"

Casper glared at him but said, "Okay. Grab onto me. And don't shoot me." Two-Face let out a low, cavernous laugh but Casper was only half joking.

A very bad idea came to him. His apartment wasn't far away and was on the first floor. It was highly unlikely anyone would see the two of them and, even if they did, they probably wouldn't care. There was weirder shit in Gotham to worry about then bringing an injured super-villain into your home.

With Casper's shoulder acting as the main support, he half-carried and half-dragged Two-Face the two blocks to his apartment building. By the time they got there, Casper was so exhausted he had lean the other man against the doorframe and catch his breath. Two-Face struggled to keep himself upright. "Why are you...helping me?"

"Because you're hurt. And I'm a good person."

"This is...Gotham," Two-Face replied. "No one's...a good person."

Casper typed in the code that opened the metal door into the lobby, careful not to let Two-Face see. He then retrieved the criminal before he could fall down. He was in and out of consciousness as Casper fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door to his apartment.

Once Casper was through the door, he dumped Two-Face on the couch and threw himself into the chair opposite, staring at the criminal in his living room. "I'm such a fucking idiot." Casper mumbled to himself, holding his head in his hands for a long moment. He was pretty this counted as harbouring a criminal, if not being an accessory. He decided to stop wallowing in self-pity and got up to search for something to suture the wounds.

He came back with a needle, cotton, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a bowl of water and a sponge balanced precariously in both arms. Two-Face was awake once again but only barely. Casper placed the stuff on the coffee table beside the couch and looked at Two-Face's battered figure. He was already fighting to keep conscious. How long before he spiralled into a sleep he wouldn't wake up from? Casper's hands started to shake. "I can't do this," He insisted. "I can't...I'm a nurse not a doctor. What if you die, huh? How am I gunna explain that to Batman?"

Two-Face laughed, more light-hearted than before but it still sounded wrong tumbling out of his damaged mouth. "He'd probably...shake your hand."

"You can't believe that, right? He's saved you so many times. Or at least tried."

"You gunna stitch...me up, Boy Scout, or we gunna...talk about our feelings while...I bleed out on your couch?"

Casper rolled his eyes and threaded the needle. Two-Face then continued to utter every vulgar word in the English language as Casper proceeded to disinfect the large slash and did his best to stitch it together. He took the opportunity to assess Two-Face's torso for any other injuries he may have and deduced his ribs were probably broken but had no way of knowing if they'd punctured a lung. "You should really go to a hospital." Casper pointed out as he did his best to dress and clean the wound. God, the man's body was so battered. It was a mess of faded scars and riddled with closed over bullet holes from run-ins with the Bat and heists and bar fights and whatever else super-villains did. The face saw the worst damage but the rest of Two-Face had not escaped unscathed.

"Who needs hospitals...when I've already got this kind of...bedside manner?" The better half of his face pulled up into a smile. Casper just rolled his eyes again in response. "You got...a name, Boy Scout?"

Casper hesitated for a moment. Then, finally he said, "Casper."

"Cas, huh?"

"Yes, Casper." Because he had always hated Cas ever since James Dylan had used it to bully him in 5th grade.

"Whatever you say, Cas."

Two-Face shifted slightly on the couch, wincing in pain. Then his hand moved suddenly to the pocket of his blazer. Before Casper could even register what had happened, there was a gun pointed at his face.

A smirk still pulled against the smooth side of his face. "Sorry, doc, looks like you've got a bad patient." Casper almost screamed as the cold metal of the barrel was pressed against his forehead.

He forced his panicking brain to calm down long enough to structure a question, "What are you doing?"

"Thanks for the...patch-up, Cas, but I gotta be...on my way. It's been fun."

Two-Face's fingers wrapped around the trigger and in that moment, Casper's heart was hammering so hard he barely heard what came out of his mouth next. "Wait, please, you can stay here. Stay here for as long as you want, plan your revenge or whatever. Please don't kill me. You need to heal and I-I can get more adderall."

Two-Face regarded him for a long moment, the gun still firmly against his skull. Then his eyes came to rest on the coin in his hand. "I'll give you the...same choice I give...everybody, kid. I like your proposal. Let's see...if the coin agrees."

The coin seemed to flip in slow motion and the whole while Casper held his breath, knowing that the verdict would be bad either way. When it finally came to a stop, Two-Face smiled sinisterly and finally brought the gun away. "I guess we...have a deal. However, there are a few things...I want to clear up."

Casper almost lost his balance when he was abruptly yanked forward by his shirt front, so close to the villain he could smell his cologne and see his grisly scars with startling clarity. He was trying his best not to look intimidating, but he could feel his body still shaking from the brush with death. Two-Face pushed the gun into his chin, forcing Casper to look up at him. "If you even whisper my location to anyone, even the postman, I'll kill you, them and everyone you've ever loved. I'm not...fucking around with you on this one, kid. This is...serious stuff. It's for your protection, as much as mine. And don't think of calling...the cops or Batman...or I'll make you eat this gun."

Two-Face released him and Casper stumbled back, breathing heavily. He was having a hard time processing everything that had just happened in those short few minutes. Two-Face glared at him, "Do you understand?" Casper could only nod. He was shaking. He'd made a terrible mistake. He contemplated running but Two-Face would probably just shoot him.

"I'm going to bed." Casper declared because he needed to get away from Two-Face. He slammed the bedroom door shut behind him and slid down against it, trying not to cry. What the fuck had he done? He glanced over to the windows, contemplated climbing out before steeling himself. No, he had done this. He had to find a way out of it. He would not be chased out of his own home by some criminal.

The disaster of the night had managed to achieve one thing in all the horror. It had taken Casper's mind off his sister and allowed him to sleep for the first time in weeks, albeit restlessly.


End file.
